Beastie Boys “Girls” Gets Feminist Remake

Remember the Beastie Boys classic 1987 hit Girls? Here’s a few lines in case you need to refresh your memory:

Girls, to do the dishes
Girls, to clean up my room
Girls, to do the laundry
Girls, and in the bathroom

Girls, that’s all I really want is girls
Two at a time, I want girls
With new wave hairdos, I want girls
I ought to whip out my girls, girls, girls, girls
Girls, girls, girls, girls, girls, girls, girls, girls, girls, girls

The lyrics certainly seem pretty misogynistic without the benefit of the catchy music and the good-natured delivery of the band.

Ready for an updated feminist take? Sizzy Rocket has released a cover version of the hip hop classic with a markedly more girl-friendly angle. The musician recently sat down for an interview with the Huffington Post and talked about how she turned the song around to make it empowering for young girls.

The 22-year-old from Las Vegas first got the idea to cover the song while singing it in the shower. Although the original lyrics are, “All we really want is girls.” For whatever reason, Rocket said she kept singing, “All they really want is girls.” And from that moment, the Beastie Boys fan got the idea to flip the song and make it a feminist anthem.

Rocket discussed the idea of female sexuality in her version of Girls, “The message behind the song … it’s just a really fun way for girls to feel like they can be sexy in any way that they want to be. There is a fine line between saying ‘I want to be empowering’ and ‘I want to be sexy,’ but I think it’s important to realize that you can be both in any way that you choose.”

The musician is a self-proclaimed feminist. She said in a 2013 interview with Luna Luna, “I’m a total fucking feminist it’s ridiculous. I think women are the most powerful creatures on earth. Men don’t like that – when women are in control. I’ve experienced a lot of this in my work, especially because of how open I am with my sexuality.”

Rocket is currently only signed as a writer, however, she is working towards signing with a major record label that gives her creative control. Sizzy Rocket is actually a made up character in the vein of Ziggy Stardust. The classically trained pianist spoke about why she chose the name Sizzy Rocket and what it means, “I read this book called Please Kill Me when I was 18 and it changed my life. I was like I want an iconic name, and I want to create an exaggerated version of myself. I want to live my life as this exaggeration. Like Andy Warhol or Freddie Mercury, I want to be bigger than myself. I’m very inspired by Andy Warhol, borderline obsessed, so, you know, everything I do is just bigger than life and that’s the goal.”